Imagine you are a western leopard toad living in your snug little home under a pot plant for 11 months of the year, happily snacking on organic, 'pesticide free' cockroaches and crickets in your vegetable patch at night while your human sleeps.
Across the globe, amphibian numbers have been in fast decline since first reported in 1990. Habitat change due to human population growth has been identified as the leading factor, but in pristine habitats population reductions are as a result of a number of factors including ultraviolet light, climate change and infectious diseases.
On the Cape Peninsula hundreds of tiny little endangered western leopard toadlets as small as a finger nail have started the beginning of their terrestrial life with an overwhelming 1 kilometer hike from the breeding ponds to our gardens.
The next full moon is the start of our resident endangered Western Leopard Toad's epic migration across the Western Cape's roads to their local breeding ponds!
There is a real threat in our country that alien reptiles, introduced by the pet trade, can get out of hand.
